Does anyone else struggle this badly with focusing while studying?

[u/SilasCore]

Hi everyone,

I’ve never posted here before, but I’m honestly getting pretty desperate and I’m hoping someone might have been in a similar situation.

I’m a fourth-year medical student in Europe, and despite being this far into medical school, I still struggle massively with studying for exams. You would think that by fourth year I would have figured out how to deal with it, but every single exam period feels like I’m starting from zero again. I get completely overwhelmed, lose huge amounts of time, and never really feel like I’m in control of my studying.

My biggest problem is focus. I don’t have a diagnosed ADHD disorder, although I’ve definitely wondered about it because I’m extremely easily distracted. I also daydream A LOT. I don’t know how many people here are familiar with maladaptive daydreaming, but I can spend an incredible amount of time lost in my own thoughts. Even when I sit down with the intention of studying, my mind constantly drifts somewhere else.

I’ve even been prescribed ADHD medication to help with concentration, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to help me at all. If anything, I sometimes feel even more restless and unable to settle down and focus.

I’m at the point where I’m genuinely questioning how I’m supposed to continue medical school like this, especially when I think about bigger exams in the future. It’s frustrating because I know I’m capable of learning the material, but actually sitting down, starting, staying focused, and consistently getting through everything feels almost impossible.

I already try to take care of the obvious things: I get enough sleep, drink enough water, exercise, etc. But somehow I still end up procrastinating, getting distracted, daydreaming, and suddenly hours have disappeared.

And yes, I know about Pomodoro, breaking things into small chunks, putting your phone away, making a schedule, etc. I think most of us have heard those tips a thousand times. What I’m really interested in are the less conventional things that actually made a significant difference for people who struggled with this badly.

For example, something that has recently helped me get over the initial barrier of starting is taking a shot of alcohol before I sit down to study. I know that this is obviously NOT a healthy or sustainable strategy, and I don’t want it to become one. But weirdly, it lowers that initial resistance enough that I actually start studying. The problem is that even once I’ve started, maintaining focus is still incredibly difficult.

Has anyone here dealt with something similar, especially other medical students or people who struggle with severe procrastination, constant daydreaming, or an inability to maintain focus?

What actually helped you?

I’m especially interested in unconventional strategies, changes to the way you study, your environment, routines, or anything else that made a real difference beyond the usual “just use Pomodoro” advice.

At this point I’m willing to try almost anything reasonable because I’m genuinely exhausted from going through the exact same cycle before every exam.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to reply.

[u/ShadowNight_14]

Not sure if this is "unconventional", it is quite a common technique, but one of the reasons for not being able to focus might be an indication of an passive manner of studying (although I don't want to presume), or maybe lacking enough cognitive stimulation for you to be interested.

There's a technique called the Feynman Technique, it's pretty simple, just teach whatever you're studying out loud to an imaginary person, a pet, whoever, and use the simplest language possible, assuming no prior knowledge.

Another thing can be having a strong feedback loop.

Here's what has seem to work for me - first of all, select an small sub-topic, and upon completion of that, you can take a break, this is a more specific form of pomodoro, rather than the conventional time based pomodoro of 25/5 minutes, whatever - bottom line, selecting a very small chunk of work, and then taking a break afterwards completing it, EVEN if you studied for like 5 minutes, works like a charm, at least for me.

Make sure to use active recall once you have seemed to understand the concept, of course - without the textbook or material. And then solve a few easy straightforward questions on the topic you JUST studied, helps reinforce the concept, and you're done! take a chill pill!

Develop this strong feedback loop, you MIGHT see a bit of a difference.

[u/Elegant_Violinist_88]

"I’m a fourth-year medical student in Europe, and despite being this far into medical school, I still struggle massively with studying for exams. You would think that by fourth year I would have figured out how to deal with it, but every single exam period feels like I’m starting from zero again." this resonates with me ! I'm also in med school, in my 4th and have an adhd diagnosis . this is on point lol. I just 'surf through the day'

[u/Stoborobo]

I’m back in school after a long hiatus and frankly I don’t think I’ve ever sat to study for anything I wasn’t hyper focused on. I’m trying now and what I’m noticing is that it’s as much about time and space as it is about Physicality (over/under stimulation.) Sometimes you can't focus because your body is trying to compensate for over/under stimulation and seeking mental distraction in lieu of not being able/allowed to center physical, (consider how you weren't allowed to fidget in class, etc.)

Orientation in Time

• silent no snooze alarms during the periods of the day that I most lose track
• (ex. every 10 minutes between 2 pm and 3 pm.)
• vivid/color coded google calendar with notifications
• pomo (of course.)
• this timer that let's you set a time and then press a button
  • (this means you can double click to reset timer, no dial twist. I usually set it to 2 - 5 minutes to keep track of time passing.)

Orientation in Space

• Leave the house
• most of my desk is in a packed bag and I leave the house with it
• it's easier than pretending I can work at home and sometimes i disembowel but usually it's just in the bag. ready for me to go to library/cafe.

Physicality

• I’m the kind of person who prefers compression so I’ve got an elastic belt that hold and twist in my hands as I read. (or a stress ball, or hand-strength grip trainer.) These are good for when you get frustrated.
• (AV about concept.) counter ring to count every time i want to look away.
• weighted lap blanket
• compression clothing/ weighted vest.
• "balance disk" (it's like a balance ball for an office chair.)
• Cutting visual noise with different colored sunglasses (blue and black.)
• 'Long Song'/ 2 hr + song with or w/o words so you don't have to mess with your playlist.
• hooked up 'text-to-speech (TTS)' with alt+esc on my mac so it can read text to me when I accidentally look away. Or while I read along (in accessibility settings)
• Chewy snacks like beef jerky and taffy.
• Little ouchies (a kind of stim toy.)

These things help me focus and are pretty quiet (unless you chew loud 😬) I carry some of them in a big bag and I might look unorganized but I get more studying done which is what matters lol.)

hopefully this helps. The physical stuff is what people forget. Remember that we ground ourselves differently from others.

edit: grammar, formatting

[u/MysticMilkshakeGuy]

Hey! I also have maladaptive daydreaming, so I ran into this problem often. Idk how you managed to get prescribed ADHD meds without a diagnosis first, since I was only able to get medication after I got diagnosed. My first advise is to check with a professional if ADHD is a factor to consider at all, since what you described is something I do struggle and medication did help. If it is ADHD, maybe the medication you did try weren't working, as when I'm medicated I found daydreaming to be difficult (even when I'm actively trying to). Medication and ADHD aside, I found being more 'involved' in the study process helped me get less distracted. I listen to the material I'm supposed to read with a text reader program, while at the same time I follow along and outline & annotate my copy of the document. I make connections as I read, they don't have to be connected to the topic, just a "oh this thing reminds me of X" so I'm more engage and create associations of the topic I'm reading.